Random musings on anything, just the right length to go with a cup of tea.

Friday, June 30, 2017

I Don't See Any

While weeding the south side bed by the arbor, I looked at the underside of the leaves on the milkweed plants which had sprouted in that area.

There is a very small white dot on the underside of this leaf. I got excited. This could be an elusive monarch caterpillar egg. I have seen plenty of butterflies but no caterpillars. I know the eggs are hard to find so I left this and dashed inside to google it. It seemed like a winner. I was so excited. First a caterpillar. Then a chrysalis.

The milkweed is blooming in the southeast corner of the front yard.

Every year, a few more plants show up. It's overgrown, and, living in suburbia, yards which are not golf course perfect, can be flagged for code violations. But everyone seems to understand this is monarch territory. They can pull their milkweeds, run them over with a lawn mower. Mine are there for this endangered butterfly.

So far, no sign of a caterpillar, anywhere. The small white dot has vanished. Bees are circling the flowers, but if there are any caterpillars, they are where I can't see them. I'm disappointed, to be sure, but I'll nurture these plants and hope I see something over the summer.

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About Me

It's taken awhile to realize I'm truly in the middle of the ages. I'm a sometimes grown-up but if you want to walk in the rain without an umbrella, I'm all in. I like cats and reading; writing and cooking; chocolate and playing World of Warcraft; hot tea and hot cocoa; the Iowa Hawkeyes and jazz; counted cross-stitch and Scotland; just sitting on the deck doing nothing but sitting and visiting museums to expand my knowledge; watching the sun come up and standing in a cornfield at night trying to find the constellations. Thanks to rheumatoid arthritis, I'm walking a road I didn't expect to be walking, but I'm trying to make that route fun. You'll find I comment on all sorts of things. Thanks for stopping by.